We’re certain

[Tatilove]

Hello everyone,

I’m the mother if a boy currently awaiting a diagnosis. We’re fairly certain he is on the spectrum, just waiting for the official diagnosis and level.

My son is 4, he is funny and a very happy child. However, at 18 months old I noticed he stopped using the few words he already knew and he wasn’t pointing either. He responds to his name only half the time. He has also displayed some repetitive behaviour, for instance, when we go to the park, he might want play in the same area for 45 minutes before moving on to another game.

He started talking in the last few months (almost a year really), but mostly uses echolalia as a way of communicating. He tends to repeat something when he agrees and won’t repeat it when not in agreement. He has recently started using more spontaneous speech, like, I want this toy, I’m hungry, I’d like some milk, go to park. Basically all very transactional sentences. We can’t have a conversation just yet.

He also can’t answer most of the W questions. If I point something and ask him what colour is this, he will answer with the right colour. Same for any number or any letter, objects and animals. So he has a big vocabulary, just can’t use then yet because receptive language isn’t quite developed for a child his age.

This is our story, based on all this, we are fairly certain he is on the spectrum.

Please feel free to say hi or just comment

 

[tree]

 

[Tatilove]

View attachment 95918

Thank you

 

[Owliet]

Hello everyone,

I’m the mother if a boy currently awaiting a diagnosis. We’re fairly certain he is on the spectrum, just waiting for the official diagnosis and level.

My son is 4, he is funny and a very happy child. However, at 18 months old I noticed he stopped using the few words he already knew and he wasn’t pointing either. He responds to his name only half the time. He has also displayed some repetitive behaviour, for instance, when we go to the park, he might want play in the same area for 45 minutes before moving on to another game.

He started talking in the last few months (almost a year really), but mostly uses echolalia as a way of communicating. He tends to repeat something when he agrees and won’t repeat it when not in agreement. He has recently started using more spontaneous speech, like, I want this toy, I’m hungry, I’d like some milk, go to park. Basically all very transactional sentences. We can’t have a conversation just yet.

He also can’t answer most of the W questions. If I point something and ask him what colour is this, he will answer with the right colour. Same for any number or any letter, objects and animals. So he has a big vocabulary, just can’t use then yet because receptive language isn’t quite developed for a child his age.

This is our story, based on all this, we are fairly certain he is on the spectrum.

Please feel free to say hi or just comment

Welcome.=)

Depending on where you are, and what access to support you can get, maybe once the diagnosis is officialized maybe you could see if he could have some access to a speech therapist? Whilst I wasn‘t diagnosed until I was a teenager, I had problems with my speech and ended up having some speech therapy to help me.

 

[Tatilove]

Welcome.=)

Depending on where you are, and what access to support you can get, maybe once the diagnosis is officialized maybe you could see if he could have some access to a speech therapist? Whilst I wasn‘t diagnosed until I was a teenager, I had problems with my speech and ended up having some speech therapy to help me.

thank you for your comment. Last year we did about six sessions of speech therapy. It unfortunately didn’t help at the time because he wasn’t ready to talk. He started talking (echolalia) after we stopped speech therapy. What I noticed helped him start talking was stopping all screens and within a couple weeks he could say full sentences even though he was just repeating. Before that he wouldn’t even say the word milk.

Now we’re about to restart speech therapy in a month or two. I’m very excited about it.

What were some of the speech issues you experienced?

 

[Nitro]

 

[VictorR]

Welcome!

If you haven't read it already, you may find

https://www.autismforums.com/resources/uniquely-human.198/
to be useful. I quite enjoyed it myself.

 

[Owliet]

thank you for your comment. Last year we did about six sessions of speech therapy. It unfortunately didn’t help at the time because he wasn’t ready to talk. He started talking (echolalia) after we stopped speech therapy. What I noticed helped him start talking was stopping all screens and within a couple weeks he could say full sentences even though he was just repeating. Before that he wouldn’t even say the word milk.

Now we’re about to restart speech therapy in a month or two. I’m very excited about it.

What were some of the speech issues you experienced?

Your son is 4 now, so may be worthwhile to try it again. And I hope that there are some more successes — the echolalia could be considered as a success.=)

I didn’t really speak in full sentences. Any words I was told, I would repeat them, I also had a stutter, I still do actually but not as much unless I get heavily upset. I also had problems with pitch, would speak very low and pretty much inaudible to everyone but dogs….

Speech therapy, really helped me to make full sentences, stutter took some work and I was trained to speak more clearly and more audibly. I would also rush my words and would be told to speak more slowly. I think what helped was having things that I had to put together to say things in Sentences. I used to have these jigsaw things about my day — like I would go to school, I would eat dinner etc and I would have to say them after putting them together. I also had some really cool cards that I was given to help me to have conversations with people.

I also had problems with writing too, and had these really cool pencil holders to help me maintain my grip and coordination with more fine motor skills.

 

[1ForAll]

Hi. Welcome to the forum here. Yes, it sounds very much like Autism based on what you said as we noticed much of the same with our young children at that age, who both are Autistic, with regards to the delays, echoing sounds or speech, difficulties in answering questions if not worded certain ways, abilities to just name objects or show slow speech improvement then, needed routines, difficulties adapting, etc.

Our oldest, now thirteen, caught up to his peers his age, for most things, and no longer is that limited or delayed, but our youngest, now ten, has had almost static one-year old level speech, since age seven, as prior he was totally nonverbal, until more recently when he showed slight more improvements there, in terms of number of objects named by him, clearness of his spoken one to three syllables or words, pointing ability, and frequencies of simple requests made to us.

Both children have many sensory issues, with our oldest having some gross motor issues and Autistic quirks on the surface, but our youngest seeming more funny, more adventurous and outwardly typical, with exception of his extremely delayed speech and very small size and looks. He resembles more that of a five year old there and has extremely limited, food tolerances. This more delayed and more limited child was also diagnosed with ADHD, in addition to his Autism, as he has a far more energetic, spontaneous, expressive (varying feelings shown), and disorganized side.

The first child was diagnosed by the school system around age three, and the latter child diagnosed between age three and four by a neurodevelopmental psychologist specialist, after all the other numerous doctors and service providers refused to listen to our beliefs about this child since age eighteen months, with them either just wanting to delay until more things appeared, assume some environment was involved, or treat, after we had learned and researched there because of his older brother who had Autism. Both children are home-schooled now, and doing the best they can. We focus now on that.

 

[Tatilove]

Your son is 4 now, so may be worthwhile to try it again. And I hope that there are some more successes — the echolalia could be considered as a success.=)

I didn’t really speak in full sentences. Any words I was told, I would repeat them, I also had a stutter, I still do actually but not as much unless I get heavily upset. I also had problems with pitch, would speak very low and pretty much inaudible to everyone but dogs….

Speech therapy, really helped me to make full sentences, stutter took some work and I was trained to speak more clearly and more audibly. I would also rush my words and would be told to speak more slowly. I think what helped was having things that I had to put together to say things in Sentences. I used to have these jigsaw things about my day — like I would go to school, I would eat dinner etc and I would have to say them after putting them together. I also had some really cool cards that I was given to help me to have conversations with people.

I also had problems with writing too, and had these really cool pencil holders to help me maintain my grip and coordination with more fine motor skills.

Sounds like you had some echolalia like my son. When were you able to start speaking in full sentences? How old were you?

Your story is amazing and certainly gives me hope. Our appointment for the diagnosis isn’t for another 4-5 months, but I’m lucky enough to be able to start speech therapy soon. He is such a bright kid and I think he will simply thrive once he can speak.

 

[Owliet]

Sounds like you had some echolalia like my son. When were you able to start speaking in full sentences? How old were you?

Your story is amazing and certainly gives me hope. Our appointment for the diagnosis isn’t for another 4-5 months, but I’m lucky enough to be able to start speech therapy soon. He is such a bright kid and I think he will simply thrive once he can speak.

Fully? 6. But I also struggled with pronunciation of words too. For Audible pitch took a little longer and then I developed the habit of muttering to myself too, but doing drama at school actually really helped with that. Stuttering, anxiety usually makes it difficult And I still slip there sometimes but it’s not often anymore as it was when I was younger. I also had a rabbit when I was Younger, He was a devil of a rabbit but I would speak to him. Speaking with animals, they dont judge or have expectations and it was easier to speak to him than it was with anyone else. I was able to express myself more with him At the very least, so it did help.

Thanks.=) Your son should definitely be able to make progress, Especially with the right support and he already has that with you. =). Keep working with him before the appointment, keep it as a routine for him and he^ll develop it. If it helps him to, maybe also get him to draw some pictures and then talk about it. It was another thing that I had to do, so maybe it would help him.

 

[Tatilove]

Hi. Welcome to the forum here. Yes, it sounds very much like Autism based on what you said as we noticed much of the same with our young children at that age, who both are Autistic, with regards to the delays, echoing sounds or speech, difficulties in answering questions if not worded certain ways, abilities to just name objects or show slow speech improvement then, needed routines, difficulties adapting, etc.

Our oldest, now thirteen, caught up to his peers his age, for most things, and no longer is that limited or delayed, but our youngest, now ten, has had almost static one-year old level speech, since age seven, as prior he was totally nonverbal, until more recently when he showed slight more improvements there, in terms of number of objects named by him, clearness of his spoken one to three syllables or words, pointing ability, and frequencies of simple requests made to us.

Both children have many sensory issues, with our oldest having some gross motor issues and Autistic quirks on the surface, but our youngest seeming more funny, more adventurous and outwardly typical, with exception of his extremely delayed speech and very small size and looks. He resembles more that of a five year old there and has extremely limited, food tolerances. This more delayed and more limited child was also diagnosed with ADHD, in addition to his Autism, as he has a far more energetic, spontaneous, expressive (varying feelings shown), and disorganized side.

The first child was diagnosed by the school system around age three, and the latter child diagnosed between age three and four by a neurodevelopmental psychologist specialist, after all the other numerous doctors and service providers refused to listen to our beliefs about this child since age eighteen months, with them either just wanting to delay until more things appeared, assume some environment was involved, or treat, after we had learned and researched there because of his older brother who had Autism. Both children are home-schooled now, and doing the best they can. We focus now on that.

WOW! Thank you for replying and for sharing your family’s story with me.

For your oldest who is no longer delayed, what would you say has made the most difference in his life? How old was he when he began talking?

Like your youngest, making simple requests, pointing, naming objects, etc are acquired. I just find that verbal communication isn’t the first thing he tried to get our attention. He will try different strategies first, like bring us his cup instead of just asking for help, when his request goes unanswered is when he’ll usually say "I want some milk".

I’m not sure that he has very many sensory issues. When I buy a new stuffed animal, he is usually scared and observes from a distance before he play with it. Is that considered a sensory de issuee?

 

[1ForAll]

WOW! Thank you for replying and for sharing your family’s story with me.

For your oldest who is no longer delayed, what would you say has made the most difference in his life? How old was he when he began talking?

Like your youngest, making simple requests, pointing, naming objects, etc are acquired. I just find that verbal communication isn’t the first thing he tried to get our attention. He will try different strategies first, like bring us his cup instead of just asking for help, when his request goes unanswered is when he’ll usually say "I want some milk".

I’m not sure that he has very many sensory issues. When I buy a new stuffed animal, he is usually scared and observes from a distance before he play with it. Is that considered a sensory de issuee?

Thanks. Between age two and two and a half our oldest would echo words and he could name several single words on flashcards. About six months later he could get up to two to three words sayings, sometimes in reply to questions and sometimes asking us things or after giving some brief comment to us based on some thing that interested him. Things progressed from there pretty well..

Lots of engagement and repetition was needed and attempts for us us to explain things, name things, compare things, describe things. Positive reinforcement through compliment or us being more happy when he made attempts and progress. Our natural teachings as he navigated in the environments were supplemented with educational teachings, like flash cards, reading/learning electronic systems, I-Pad apps and programs, puzzles and blocks, books, workbooks, learning Dvds, and through readings, games, drawing attempts. music, and toys.

In addition, we then tried to create a calm and relaxed environment for him, tried to be as good role models as we could, researched more about Autism, repeated back the things he said at times to let him know we heard him and to encourage more engagement, tried to speak one word longer than his current level, encouraged him to say the words he said before before giving in to actions we knew he wanted, created social play opportunities with children his age and with some adults, taking him to library story times and when they had craft activities, explained things logically to him where he could understand better, etc.

Both of our children when they were young would communicate with us through pulling us where they wanted us to go, or to get something for them, if they could not voice that word or part of word themselves or get such themselves. As well, each could have meltdowns if their routine was broken or if we did things in ways that affected their senses or that did not interest them at the time, or if they needed something else then. We often had to be one step ahead of them often to predict what they wanted or needed.

It's tough being an Autistic parent, but it can be very rewarding too. Don't hesitate to ask further questions here to us, or even privately. We remember those years very well.

 

[Luca]

Welcome!

I don't have children myself so I don't have a lot of expertise in this area unfortunately, but you have been given some really strong advice already!

I'm here if you need support though. I do try my best to help, even if I'm not an expert on the topic.

Thank you for being such a caring and loving parent to your son.

 

[Mary Terry]

Your son's situation is very similar to my nephew. My nephew, diagnosed about age 2 years old and now about 30 years old, is considered low functioning and struggles to voluntarily say or write words. He has always used echolalia to communicate. When he was young, he would quote entire dialogues from a TV show called Sesame Street, using the tone and accent of the characters he was quoting. I eventually realized that what he was quoting was actually responsive to the situation he was dealing with. He could make the connection between what the TV character said and his own particular circumstances, but he could not and still does not voluntarily say words or make sentences to express himself.

Nonetheless, he makes himself known and understood to me although he will never be able to just converse, in his own words, like many people on the spectrum can do.

Everyone is different so time will tell about your son. He sounds like a wonderful person and you're a wonderful parent to explore this for him.

 

[Tatilove]

Welcome!

I don't have children myself so I don't have a lot of expertise in this area unfortunately, but you have been given some really strong advice already!

I'm here if you need support though. I do try my best to help, even if I'm not an expert on the topic.

Thank you for being such a caring and loving parent to your son.

Hi Luca,

Thank you for offering your help and support and for kind your words. I feel very welcomed here.

 

[Tatilove]

Your son's situation is very similar to my nephew. My nephew, diagnosed about age 2 years old and now about 30 years old, is considered low functioning and struggles to voluntarily say or write words. He has always used echolalia to communicate. When he was young, he would quote entire dialogues from a TV show called Sesame Street, using the tone and accent of the characters he was quoting. I eventually realized that what he was quoting was actually responsive to the situation he was dealing with. He could make the connection between what the TV character said and his own particular circumstances, but he could not and still does not voluntarily say words or make sentences to express himself.

Nonetheless, he makes himself known and understood to me although he will never be able to just converse, in his own words, like many people on the spectrum can do.

Everyone is different so time will tell about your son. He sounds like a wonderful person and you're a wonderful parent to explore this for him.

Hi Mary Terry,

Thank your for replying and for sharing your nephew’s story. It is true that there are some similarities. The main difference I’ve noti

Your son's situation is very similar to my nephew. My nephew, diagnosed about age 2 years old and now about 30 years old, is considered low functioning and struggles to voluntarily say or write words. He has always used echolalia to communicate. When he was young, he would quote entire dialogues from a TV show called Sesame Street, using the tone and accent of the characters he was quoting. I eventually realized that what he was quoting was actually responsive to the situation he was dealing with. He could make the connection between what the TV character said and his own particular circumstances, but he could not and still does not voluntarily say words or make sentences to express himself.

Nonetheless, he makes himself known and understood to me although he will never be able to just converse, in his own words, like many people on the spectrum can do.

Everyone is different so time will tell about your son. He sounds like a wonderful person and you're a wonderful parent to explore this for him.

Hi Mary Terry,

Thank you for sharing your nephew’s story. It is true that there are some similarities. The echolalia apparently is quite common with autism, but from my understanding a lot of children learn to because conversational with speech therapy.

I’m very proud of my son because I see him making a lot of progress (albeit slow). This time last year he didn’t speak at all. He stopped talking at 18 months when the pandemic began, I noticed right away and we thought it was because of the very sudden changes, stopping daycare so suddenly (had a best friend there), never going outside anymore (strict lockdowns where I live), and me becoming pregnant during that time. We thought it was just temporary.

He started talking again in spring 2022 with echolalia, and then over the last few months he is able to communicate his some of his needs without the echolalia, using full sentences. It’s all very transactional, like he’ll point a toy on a shelf and say "I want that toy" or he’ll go sit down at the table and "want to eat" or "I’m hungry". Just basic sentences like this.

Though I an hoping he’s able to catch up and eliminate all language delay, I understand that it might not happen or might happen later than expected, but his recent progress does give me hope he will catch up with his peers.

He can dress and undress himself for the most part, always ate on his own, brush his own teeth and ABSOLUTELY HAS to pick the clothes he’ll wear for the day It makes me so proud to see how resilient and independent he is. And I will be proud regardless if any progress is made or not.

You seen proud of your nephew as well. You’re lucky to have each other.

If you don’t mind me asking, what does low functioning entail? Does it mean he needs assistance to day to day tasks like taking a shower, cooking, etc…?

 

[Tatilove]

Hi Mary Terry,

Thank your for replying and for sharing your nephew’s story. It is true that there are some similarities. The main difference I’ve noti

Hi Mary Terry,

Thank you for sharing your nephew’s story. It is true that there are some similarities. The echolalia apparently is quite common with autism, but from my understanding a lot of children learn to because conversational with speech therapy.

I’m very proud of my son because I see him making a lot of progress (albeit slow). This time last year he didn’t speak at all. He stopped talking at 18 months when the pandemic began, I noticed right away and we thought it was because of the very sudden changes, stopping daycare so suddenly (had a best friend there), never going outside anymore (strict lockdowns where I live), and me becoming pregnant during that time. We thought it was just temporary.

He started talking again in spring 2022 with echolalia, and then over the last few months he is able to communicate his some of his needs without the echolalia, using full sentences. It’s all very transactional, like he’ll point a toy on a shelf and say "I want that toy" or he’ll go sit down at the table and "want to eat" or "I’m hungry". Just basic sentences like this.

Though I an hoping he’s able to catch up and eliminate all language delay, I understand that it might not happen or might happen later than expected, but his recent progress does give me hope he will catch up with his peers.

He can dress and undress himself for the most part, always ate on his own, brush his own teeth and ABSOLUTELY HAS to pick the clothes he’ll wear for the day It makes me so proud to see how resilient and independent he is. And I will be proud regardless if any progress is made or not.

You seen proud of your nephew as well. You’re lucky to have each other.

If you don’t mind me asking, what does low functioning entail? Does it mean he needs assistance to day to day tasks like taking a shower, cooking, etc…?

Sorry about the double post, I started writing and lost the page (or so I thought ) and restarted over.

 

[Mary Terry]

Hi Mary Terry,

Thank your for replying and for sharing your nephew’s story. It is true that there are some similarities. The main difference I’ve noti

Hi Mary Terry,

Thank you for sharing your nephew’s story. It is true that there are some similarities. The echolalia apparently is quite common with autism, but from my understanding a lot of children learn to because conversational with speech therapy.

I’m very proud of my son because I see him making a lot of progress (albeit slow). This time last year he didn’t speak at all. He stopped talking at 18 months when the pandemic began, I noticed right away and we thought it was because of the very sudden changes, stopping daycare so suddenly (had a best friend there), never going outside anymore (strict lockdowns where I live), and me becoming pregnant during that time. We thought it was just temporary.

He started talking again in spring 2022 with echolalia, and then over the last few months he is able to communicate his some of his needs without the echolalia, using full sentences. It’s all very transactional, like he’ll point a toy on a shelf and say "I want that toy" or he’ll go sit down at the table and "want to eat" or "I’m hungry". Just basic sentences like this.

Though I an hoping he’s able to catch up and eliminate all language delay, I understand that it might not happen or might happen later than expected, but his recent progress does give me hope he will catch up with his peers.

He can dress and undress himself for the most part, always ate on his own, brush his own teeth and ABSOLUTELY HAS to pick the clothes he’ll wear for the day It makes me so proud to see how resilient and independent he is. And I will be proud regardless if any progress is made or not.

You seen proud of your nephew as well. You’re lucky to have each other.

If you don’t mind me asking, what does low functioning entail? Does it mean he needs assistance to day to day tasks like taking a shower, cooking, etc…?

Many people here can explain the differences between varying degrees of autism a lot better than I can. But, in the case of my nephew, he cannot drive a car, cook on a stove, shop in stores without help, talk to other people, and a whole lot of other things that I think one needs to be able to do in order to be independent. He is very naive and trusting so, even though he understands money and counts it, he would give every cent he has to a total stranger if they asked him for it. He dresses himself, brushes his teeth and bathes alone but he cannot shave his beard. Or his mother won't let him. At any rate, she shaves his face every day.
His mother has always been highly resistant to allowing him to grow up and learn how to take care of himself. She infantilizes him and seems to have no purpose or meaning in life other than being his mother and treating him like a baby to justify her existence. How wonderful that you let your child continue to grow and learn new things. I understand that autism can be characterized by developmental delays so I've always thought that the best course of action for him is to continue working on social and physical skills throughout his life instead of doing everything for him and keeping him a prisoner in his own house.

When my nephew stays with me, we work on skills. I've taught him to use eating utensils (his mother allows him to eat everything, including salad, with his fingers), how to get a glass of ice water by himself, how to make a sandwich by himself, how to call 911 or me in case of an emergency, how to order food in a restaurant, how to use the computer (he loves looking up animals on Wikipedia) and many other things just so he can fit in and experience life outside his mother's house. I taught him how to read the stanzas or verses for hymns when he was about 13 years old. He loves to sing and is a member of the church choir. He also loves classical music. Church is the only place he is allowed to go without his mother (other than my house) and everyone there knows him and watches out for him. He is a delightful, loving young man despite his limitations, and that's all that matters, I guess.